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Enola Gay B-29

The Enola Gay is famous, or infamous, for being the first aircraft to deploy a nuclear weapon in combat. On August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay dropped the “Little Boy” bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, ushering in a new age of warfare.

The aircraft is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Air & Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center annex, adjacent to Dulles International Airport in the Washington D.C. area of Virginia.

Some Enola Gay facts and figures:

Commanded by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets on the Hiroshima mission

Named for Col Tibbets’ mother

Model number: B-29-45-MO

Serial Number: 44-86292

Manufacturer: Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr., 1945

Delivered: May 18, 1945

Modified into a “Silver Plate” B-29

Two modes of targeting: Norden bombsight, and the AN/ALQ-7 or AN/APQ-13 radar (Note the spherical radar antenna ‘dome’ hanging down between the two bomb bays)

Stationed at the Roswell Army Air Field, Roswell, New Mexico, USA, after World War II
o Home of the 509th Bombardment Group
o For years it was the only unit in the world with nuclear capable aircraft

Stored at the “Bone Yard” at Davis-Monthan, Arizona from Sept 1946 to July 1949

A caveat on the photos: As with most aerospace museums, the exhibits are crammed-in and the display areas are cramped. Getting profile shots of the whole aircraft is nearly impossible. Also, other displays, hand rails and barriers, facility beams and girders, and, of course, the museum patrons, also get in the way of obtaining that ‘perfect’ shot.

If anyone requires more detailed close-ups of any of the aircraft’s minutiae, send me an email or message and I’ll be glad to ‘zoom in’ and extract desired portions of my larger format photos.

About the Author

About Keith Wolters (woltersk)FROM: UTAH, UNITED STATES

From Roswell, New Mexico. To date have not seen any aliens.
Joined the USAF in 1985.
Hydraulics specialist on F- & EF-111As, and UH-1s for 4 years at Mt Home AFB, Idaho.
Then retrained into F-16 Avionics (back shop).
Worked Vipers in Colorado, Georgia, Kunsan AB Korea, Utah, and Aviano AB Italy...

Comments

Fascinating and nicely prepared feature, much appreciated Keith. I was quite surprised to see the Enola in one piece as I had seen some pictures and read in a few places that the parts were or were to be distributed to various locations. Glad to see that the "rumours" were greatly exaggerated. I must also commend you on the shots you got as I had no idea the facility where the aircraft are located was as congested as your images show.
Cheers,
Jan